JP2804929B2 - Article sorting equipment - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an article sorting apparatus suitable for energy saving. 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an article sorting apparatus used for sorting articles such as parcels and letters according to their destinations is provided with an endless transport line, and a supply line is provided at an arbitrary position on the transport line. And a sorting line, and a number of traveling vehicles are connected to the chain conveyor on the line. In the case of this device, there is a drawback that a loud noise is generated by driving the chain conveyor and the structure is complicated. For this reason, in recent years, a device for driving a traveling vehicle with a linear motor, for example, a device shown in FIG. 7 has been used. In the case of this device, the secondary side, that is, the traveling vehicle is driven by intermittently exciting the primary side of the linear motor. However, when the traveling vehicle moves, the excitation is released at that time, and the traveling vehicle is released. By exciting the primary side of another linear motor at the position where has moved by an appropriate control device, the traveling vehicle is accelerated, decelerated, stopped, and the like. By the way, when the traveling vehicles are individually driven along an endlessly continuous traveling path, the traveling resistance is increased in a curved portion that changes direction, and in that portion, in order to obtain a large amount of power for driving the traveling vehicle, The increase in the capacity of the linear motor and the reduction in the installation interval of the primary side of the linear motor have caused factors such as an increase in cost. Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-1372
As shown in No. 18, there is an attempt to form a traveling vehicle connected body in which a number of traveling vehicles are movably connected to each other in a ring shape. In this case, too, the traveling vehicle is intermittently excited by exciting a primary side of a linear motor. However, it does not go beyond the conventional linear motor drive system for performing acceleration, deceleration, stop, and the like. [0003] The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the conventional article sorting apparatus, can effectively use the thrust of a linear motor for driving a traveling vehicle, and can reduce the capacity of the linear motor. It is an object of the present invention to provide a low-cost linear motor-driven article sorting apparatus capable of reducing the size and size of the apparatus. [0004] In order to achieve the above object, an article sorting apparatus of the present invention has an article transfer conveyor and a sorting chute arranged laterally, and has an endless continuous linear section. In a traveling path composed of a curved portion, a traveling bogie connected body annularly connected on the traveling path, and a linear motor driven article sorting device including a linear motor driving unit, the traveling bogie coupled body includes a large number of The linear vehicle comprises a traveling vehicle, a tiltable pan that is arranged closely above each traveling vehicle, and a connecting rod that rotatably connects adjacent traveling vehicles below and inside the pan. The motor drive unit is distributed only in the straight portion of the traveling path, and is linearly composed of several sets of opposed-excitation primary coils continuously energized. The reaction plate is arranged, and the upper end and the lower end of the reaction plate are supported via horizontal guide rollers, respectively. [0005] In this article sorting apparatus, a traveling vehicle connected body constituted by connecting traveling vehicles having reaction plates suspended by continuously energizing a linear motor composed of several sets of opposed-excitation primary coils is used. Induction drive is performed as if by one motor rotor. An embodiment of an apparatus for sorting articles according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the figure, 1
Is a loop-shaped traveling path, which is supported by a gantry 1b that arranges a lower portion of the traveling rail 1a at a required interval, and is bent and inclined at both ends 1X of the traveling rail 1a. Is a horizontal straight road 1Y, 1Z
The straight roads 1Y and 1Z are arranged to be vertically parallel, and the running rail 1a forms a loop as a whole. In the upper straight path 1Y and the lower straight path 1Z, a large number of sorting chutes 2a, 2b... 2n are arranged adjacent to one or both sides thereof, and a part or a curve of the straight paths 1Y, 1Z. On the road 1X, one or two or more transfer conveyors 4a, 4b,... Are disposed at positions where the articles to be sorted are transferred onto the pan of the traveling cart. A plurality of traveling vehicles 3, 3... Are arranged over the entire length, and are connected so as to be able to swing between adjacent traveling vehicles 3, 3 so that all traveling vehicles travel simultaneously. The traveling of the traveling vehicle 3 is performed by several linear motors 6 arranged on the traveling path 1, and a large number of traveling vehicles mounted on the traveling path 1 are moved by the linear motors 6 and 6. Transfer at the same time. Two or three linear motors 6 are disposed at the end of the straight road 1Z so as to push up the curved road on which the traveling bogie on the running road is inclined, that is, to push up the curved bogie. Two or three linear motors 6 are arranged at the end of the upper straight road 1Y so as to provide thrust, and therefore several linear motors 6 are arranged at the upper and lower straight road ends near one curved road. Here, the reason why the linear motors are dispersed in several units and disposed only on the straight road is that the tension of the pan connecting portion can be reduced by dispersing and disposing the linear motor only on the straight road. Can be reduced in size and weight, and by dispersing the tension, interference between adjacent traveling vehicles on curved roads of the traveling vehicle and lowering of traveling resistance by the lower horizontal guide roller 30G can be achieved, and the capacity of the linear motor can be reduced. This is for the purpose of reducing noise. The traveling speed and braking of the traveling vehicle are controlled by the control of the linear motor 6. In addition, in order to drive the traveling vehicle more efficiently with the linear motor 6,
As shown in FIG. 3, linear motors 6 are disposed so as to be opposed to both side surfaces of a reaction plate 32 vertically provided on the lower surface of the traveling vehicle 3, respectively. The thrust is applied simultaneously from both sides of 32. Further, the linear motor 6 is fixed to a frame on the traveling path. The traveling vehicle 3 is shown in detail in FIGS. A reaction plate 32 is erected below the bogie body 30 of a predetermined size along the traveling direction of the bogie 3, and a hinge 30H is provided on a shaft 30S supported by a pan support bracket 30B on the upper side. The pan 31 is provided so as to be swingable and tiltable via the hinge 30H or directly on the shaft 30S. The pan 31 has a V-shape or other shape to ensure that articles can be transferred. A frame 33 is fixed to the lower end of the reaction plate 32, and a wheel 30W is disposed below the frame so that the wheel 30W can run on the rail 1R of the traveling path 1.
At 0 W, the entire load of the traveling carriage 3 is supported, and two lower horizontal guide rollers 30G are provided at both front and rear end positions of the frame 33. The lower horizontal guide rollers 30G are opposed to both sides of the rail 1R of the traveling path. The lower portion of the reaction plate 32 is prevented from tilting in the left-right direction with respect to the traveling direction by being sandwiched between the provided guide rails 1G, so that the gap between the reaction plate 32 and the linear motor 6 can be kept constant. Also, an upper rail 1U is provided on the rail 1R, and a vertical guide roll 30R provided in a direction perpendicular to the frame abuts on the lower surface of the upper rail 1U so that the traveling vehicle is driven from the traveling path by a thrust given by the linear motor 6 during traveling. Prevent from rising. Bread 31
Brackets 3B, 3B are protrudingly provided on the back side of both side plates of the main body 30, and the lower ends of the brackets 3B, 3B are brought into contact with a support roller 34 movably provided on the main body 30. The tilting of the pan 31 is prevented by the contact support of the pan 3B, and the pan is positioned at the solid line position in FIG. The support roller 34 is a main body 3
The roller support shaft 34S protrudes from the shaft 35 supported by the
The shaft 35S is rotatably supported by the shaft 34S.
Is provided with a spring 35S for restoration, and a lever 35 is provided at the shaft end.
L is provided, and by pressing this lever 35L, the shaft 35,
The support roller 34 is tilted via the roller support shaft, and when the support roller 34 is tilted, the contact with the bracket 3B is released, and the pan 31 can tilt freely. At this time,
That is, the shock absorber 36, which supports the back of the pan by abutting it so as to stop at a predetermined angle when the pan is tilted, is connected to the main body 30.
To be provided. At the front and rear ends of the main body 30 in the running direction, connecting brackets 37, 37 are protrudingly provided. A connecting shaft 37S vertically penetratingly supported by the connecting bracket 37 supports an upper horizontal guide roller 37G rotatably and turns. The end of the buckle-type connecting rod 38 is locked. This connecting rod 3
8 is connected to the connecting shaft 37S by a ball joint type, so that even if the adjacent front and rear traveling carts swing in different directions, the ball joint absorbs the swing, and the traveling carts absorb the swing. Are connected to each other so that they can run smoothly. The pan provided to be tiltable on the upper part of the traveling cart 3 is tilted at a fixed position of the transfer conveyor 4 or the sorting chute 2 so that loading and unloading of articles can be performed quickly and reliably. In this case, a conventionally used device is employed. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the traveling vehicles 3 located at the curved portions are driven while being pushed and pulled between the adjacent traveling vehicles. Angle of 1 /
2, that is, with respect to the angle 2α between the adjacent traveling vehicles when the connecting rod 38 is not interposed, the connecting rod 38
, The driving force transmitted between the adjacent traveling vehicles becomes F.cos2.alpha. By interposing the connecting rod 38 with F.cos2.alpha. When the connecting rod 38 is not interposed. cosα
(> F · cos2α), and the driving force can be smoothly transmitted between the adjacent traveling vehicles. According to the article sorting apparatus of the present invention, the upper end and the lower end of the reaction plate, which is vertically mounted on each of the traveling vehicles and closely arranged to each other, are respectively connected via the horizontal guide rollers. By supporting, the reaction plate can be prevented from tilting without increasing the running resistance, and the linear motors composed of several sets of opposed-excitation primary coils are distributed only to the straight section of the running path. In addition to the above arrangement, the gap between the reaction plate and the primary coil can be set to a small distance, and this distance can be maintained with high accuracy, resulting in energy loss. Can be reduced. Also,
The traveling vehicles located at the curved portions are driven while pushing and pulling each other between the adjacent traveling vehicles. However, the interposition of the connecting rod reduces the angle between the adjacent traveling vehicles by 1 /.
2, so that the driving force can be smoothly transmitted between the adjacent traveling vehicles. In addition, since the connecting rods are configured to rotatably connect the adjacent traveling carts on the lower inner side of the pan, the pan and the reaction plate of each traveling cart can be closely arranged with each other. It is possible to improve the sorting capacity and the driving capacity of the traveling vehicle connected body. Accordingly, the article sorting apparatus of the present invention can effectively utilize the thrust of the linear motor driving the traveling vehicle, reduce the capacity of the linear motor, reduce the size of the apparatus, and reduce the cost of the linear motor driven article. Has the advantage of being able to obtain a sorting device of

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an apparatus for sorting articles according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view of the same. FIG. 3 is a side longitudinal sectional view of the traveling vehicle. FIG. 4 is a front view of the same. FIG. 5 is a plan view of the same. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of transmission of driving force between adjacent traveling vehicles. FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view of a known article sorting apparatus. [Description of Signs] 1 Runway 2 Sorting chute 3 Traveling trolley 30G Lower horizontal guide roller 31 Pan 32 Reaction plate 37G Upper horizontal guide roller 38 Connecting rod 4 Transfer conveyor 6 Linear motor

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-56-91688 (JP, A) JP-A-57-137218 (JP, A) JP-A-52-145966 (JP, A) 135519 (JP, U) US Patent 3,788,447 (US, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B65G 47/38-47/46 B65G 23/22-23/23 B65G 54/02

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An article transfer conveyor and a sorting chute are disposed on the side, a traveling path including endlessly continuous linear portions and curved portions, an annularly connected traveling truck connected body disposed on the traveling path, and a linear motor drive. In a linear motor driven article sorting apparatus comprising:
A large number of traveling vehicles, a tiltable pan that is arranged close to each other at the top of each traveling vehicle, and a connecting rod that connects adjacent traveling vehicles rotatably to each other inside the lower side of the pan, The linear motor drive section is distributed only in the linear section of the traveling path, and is composed of several pairs of opposed-excitation primary coils continuously energized. And a reaction plate which is arranged closely to the reaction plate, and the upper end and the lower end of the reaction plate are respectively supported via horizontal guide rollers.